Area summer camps focus on fashion design, the blues, and more chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kids aged 12-18 who enjoy music and are interested in learning more about Blues music have an opportunity to receive world-class instruction for free at the 3rd annual Kids Blues Camp NC sponsored by Delta Arts Center, Dr. Myron Brown and the Winston-Salem State University music department, and Fernando Jones and the Blues Kids Foundation.
Educator Fernando Jones has taught young musicians in both virtual and in-person settings. (Photo: Courtesy Fernando Jones)
Unlike jazz camps, camps that focus on the blues are a rarity. In 2010, when Fernando Jones decided to start one at Columbia College Chicago where he is on faculty the veteran bluesman and educator wasn’t quite sure it would work. It did, and since then Jones’ blues camps have become an annual rite of summer. By 2019, the camps had welcomed hundreds of kids at sites in eight states, as well as the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and Cuba. Last year’s program was shaping up as a major event, as well, until the pandemic hit in March.